Lawn Weeding Project Results in Ordnance Find

Lebanon County, Pennsylvania A 14-year old boy was helping with the lawn work at his house when he saw a piece of metal sticking out of the dirt. The boy gave the item a kick and loosened it from the ground. To his surprise, the item was a munition. He quickly told his parents who called the police to report the find. The police responded with a state police bomb squad. The nearby highway was closed as the bomb squad responded. The bomb squad identified the munition as a 60 mm training mortar. The bomb squad safely removed the item from the property for proper disposal.

The property where the mortar round was found is adjacent to the Fort Indiantown Gap Pennsylvania Army National Guard training center. The Army guard recently completed an RI/FS for the installation which addressed a large tract of land (approximately 8,00 acres) that was formerly used for training that is no longer under control of the Guard. It's unclear if the residential property was included within the scope of the RI/FS. The parents reported to police that this was the first time ordnance has been found on their property. However, other neighbors reported that ordnance finds have occurred on their property in the past.